ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET AND UC

Changes to my diet have helped me a lot.

If I'm in a flare I only eat fish/chicken/eggs and cooked vegetables (excluding potatoes and corn).

I think there is a direct correlation in sugar and simple carbohydrates and my inflammation levels and UC.

I don't follow a specific diet, I do limit my sugar and other inflammatory foods Like right now as I am tapering of prednisone and really trying to watch inflammation I am eliminating sweets and have added foods like ginger root, green tea, and walnuts.

Interesting that dark chocolate is at the top. I love dark chocolate and it doesn't bother me. One of the few treats I allow myself!

stereofidelic - do you take licorice root as a capsule, powder, or tea? How much do you take?

try took with turmeric powder I usually make a stir fry with extra virgin olive oil I use cilantro powder and turmeric powder. start eating salmon too. see what happens when u cut out chocolate.

tchrmgr,

There are many foods that are known to have inflammatory effects on the body, grains, gluten, wheat, dairy (especially cow dairy) being some of them.

I've tried many different diets in order to reverse the inflammation to reverse the UC, but also to increase general health. As you know it isn't just UC that is affected by inflammation; inflammation is an inherent problem in most diseases and continued inflammation and irritation could eventually lead to cancer as well. Having done lots of research on this, I've found that the Paleo diet - is the best anti-inflammatory diet. Diets high in omega 6's or that have high concentrations of omega 6's (in comparison ratio of omega 3's) create inflammation.

Paleo diet, an anti-inflammatory diet - mostly veggies, salads, fish, nuts, healthy fats,  lots of GRASS-fed animal products like lamb, beef, bison, and eggs, no grains at all. The whole basis of the diet is to concentrate on foods rich in healthy ratio of omega 3 to omega 6, which is ideally 1:1. Grain-fed animal products contain unhealthy ratio of 1:20 and causes and contributes to inflammation in the body, and therefore disease. Also grass-fed animal products contain important CLA, which you cannot get from any other source.

 

I can tell that you that since being on this diet, my doctor is amazed at my blood work ( in a good way), I feel great. All the terrible joint, bone, fibromyalgia pains I've been suffering from for so long have finally stopped, and my UC is in full remission. I feel great.

 

I have spoken to others who are on the same Paleo diet and have reported normalizing levels of HDL, LDL, and triglycerides, and greatly lowered heart disease risk.

 

So, to me there is an enormous connection between diet and UC, and diet and inflammation.

 

 

I am like you, I have been on Prednisone since Aug and really need off. I got down to 5 mg before Christmas and everything went haywire and I had to go back up for a bit. Now that I am doing weekly Humira I am doing much better. I go down to 10 mg of pred this week so we shall see what happens. All my urgency is gone, no blood, no pain, and only going twice a day so as of now life is good!

I am hoping that adding the whole licorice root will help once under 10 mg. The longer I am on pred the more I worry about the rest of my health, like my bones!

For SCD, look up "SCD intro diet recipies" and you'll find enough to get you started.
For Paleo diet recipes, look up the blog "Mark's Daily Apple"
Gluten free = not eating anything with gluten. I found a lot of gluten free products (not all by any means) were processed junk and really not that good. If you choose to start here, you might want to skip all of that stuff and use rice.
I don't know about Andrew Weil's diet really, it's not specifically for IBD. Maybe once you can get things under control it's a good list off foods to gravitate towards.
If you're badly flaring, cook and blend everything.
Good luck.

To many of you: What are the mesalmine and rowena edemas? My doctor has so far only prescribed Balsalazide. I take three tablets, three times a day. If I miss a dose my symptoms get worse. Once he gave me Predisone for a few days when I had had a flare up. I haven't called him yet regarding this most recent (and worst yet!) flare up.

To all: Regarding the Gluten Free Diet, Paleo Diet, Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Diet, and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet - Can anybody give me a list menu list for a typical day? Right now I'm afraid to eat anything and am subsisting on poached eggs, cooked chicken, and rice. I can't go on for this very long!

Hi tchr

Mesalamine and Rowasa enemas are the same thing. Rowasa is the "brand" name but is available as a generic which is what I use. You should ask for a 30 day supply (28 enemas) and give them a try. many of us feel they are worth the money (I have high deduct. so I pay for them myself).

As far as diet: think of eating this way-eliminate gluten and grains, this means all types of bread, pasta, crackers, etc. SCD does not even allow rice (it's a grain). Eliminate all forms of dairy: cheese, milk, butter, etc. OK, once you've gotten over the shock and re-design your diet you realize that the only two safe places to shop in the grocery store are the produce section and the meat/seafood section, ignore the rest

It will be a big change because our Western diets center around carbohydrates.
The easiest way to start is to eliminate gluten and dairy for 2-3 weeks and keep notes about # of BM's and other symptoms. If you have NO improvement you may not be the type who will benefit from diet modification because these 2 food types are usually the biggest problems along with sugar.

Eliminating carbohydrates, starches and sugars usually reduces UC symptoms but it is so difficult to do that many people prefer not to. Not all vegetables are good either because potatoes and winter squash have a lot of starch. Starch turns into sugar when digested. Sugar is not good for UC and many of us stay away from artificial sugar too.

My meals today:

Breakfast: one egg and one strip of low-sodium bacon
Lunch: Tuna with celery
Snack: homemade cookies made with almond flour
Snack: brown pear skinless
Dinner: Stir fried chicken and veggies (carrots, green beans, yellow squash)
Snack:raw carrots with mayonnaise
Snack: walnuts and sunflower seeds-I like a lot of snacks
I drink a lot of water during the day and every other day have homemade veggie juice ( yesterday it was carrot, red cabbage, splash of red grape)

I am in remission so can have swiss cheese, butter on veggies, some fruit juice and raisins in small amounts without symptoms. Diet has given me my life back but it doesn't work for everyone. You won't know if it works for you unless you try it.

Good luck.

stereo, i remember when i was getting off prednisone last year, you told me about taking licorice root to help with my adrenal glands. i ended up stopping prednisone and i began taking an adrenal support formula with licorice, ashwaganda, and a few other herbs. i finished up the bottle of adrenal support and didn't think anything of it.

it wasn't until saturday when i was at work (i work at a naturopath's office) and we do a lot of iridology (examining eye patterns). my boss ended up asking me if my pupils were always this huge. apparently, it's a sign of adrenal gland problems. i told her that i had been on prednisone for 3.5 months after she told me about my big pupils. isn't it weird how eye patterns show so much? i think i am going to start incorporating the licorice root tea you drink into my daily supplement program since i have a large bag of it. mine is a powder though so i guess i'll just drink it all straight up.

Wow, guys! Thanks again. Lots of "food" for thought, eh?

I'm at 10mg of pred. right now and i've been juicing red cabbage for 4 days now without any gassy effects. I drink about half a cup a day. I think its different for everyone. I also think that if I was at 7.5mg of pred or lower, it might have a little more of an effect on me, because in a way I am detoxing my system little by little.

It's an amazing superfood with tons of phytonutrients and antioxidants to help clear about bad bacteria and promote anti-inflammatory effects on the gut.

tchrmgr said...
One more thing - what's the deal about cabbage juice? Can this be helpful with UC? Won't it promote lots of gas? Thanks.

My mom claims that cabbage juice has helped her a lot. She was diagnosed with Pancolitis, went undiagnosed for 3 years, thereafter took meds for 2 years and cabbage juice. Now she is symptom free. I tried the same thing she tried but didn't help. She also took wheatgrass juice with cabbage juice.

You may also want to look into FODMAP for diets.